Michael Rogers wrote in the
Library Journal that the novel is "a great piece of Americana", and was published to "cash in on the man of steel's popularity in comics as well as on radio for which Lowther was a scriptwriter". He points out though that it was "originally written for a young adult audience ... and is probably a little too sophisticated for today's youth and will probably find a wider readership among adults who enjoyed Superman as kids". The
Chicago Sun-Times opined that when Lowther gave Superman and his father the last name of
El, which is a Hebrew word for God, "from that point forward, with the father christened Jor-El and the son christened Kal-El, the Superman story became one of El (God) the father sending El (God) the son to save the Earth". J.J. Sedelmaier of
Print Magazine praised the artwork of Joe Shuster, noting how each chapter page "includes a black and white pen/brush and ink illustration" ... that are "tasty, gestural pieces of inspiration" ... and the illustrations are "immediate and almost impulsive ... and not what I would expect from a book produced in 1942". He opined that including this artwork "puts a focus on the artist as opposed to the character" and is "daring in its loose expression and vitality". ==References==